Do you have a cold that just won’t go away? the aisle at your local drugstore is overflowing with different cold medicines, and choosing the right one feels like a gamble with your wallet taking the hit at every purchase.

Without a cure, the common cold is a treat-the-symptoms illness and that’s where the picture gets even more complicated. according to the Mayo Clinic, the common cold is caused by more than 100 viruses, which means signs and symptoms vary greatly.

From coughing and sneezing to body aches and nausea, the common cold is different in the estimated 62 million cases occurring each year in the United States, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. and that adds up to a lot of symptoms and cold medicine.

When you take nonprescription medicine for four to seven days and your symptoms do not improve or the symptoms get worse, it is time to go to seek medical attention, according to Sarah Braga, who is a Registered Pharmacist who holds a Doctorate in Pharmacy and serves as director of drug information and associate professor at South University’s School of Pharmacy in Columbia, S.C.

“While antibiotics are not appropriate for treating a viral infection, complications from the common cold can include bacterial infections such as sinusitis, ear infections, and pneumonia. Remember that your pharmacist is there to help you long before you have a prescription in hand.”

Pharmacists are trained to conduct assessments and to make recommendations on a wide range of nonprescription medications, including herbal remedies, vitamins, and supplements. for the common cold, remedies come in three broad categories: pain relievers, decongestant nasal sprays and cough syrups. Reading the labels and understanding dosage, especially for young children, is critical.

“Nonprescription medicine should be taken with the same care as prescription medicine, especially for those with complicating factors such as pregnancy or chronic long-term medical conditions such as diabetes or asthma,” says Dr. Braga. “And your pharmacist is there to help you make good choices for treating your cold symptoms and can help you with dosage instructions.”

Consider these factors when evaluating whether or not it is time to see the doctor. 1. do you have a fever? 2. have you been treating your symptoms for a week with no improvement or have the symptoms gotten worse? 3. Are you experiencing unusual symptoms such as dizziness, new pain, coughing blood, etc.? 4. do you have complicating factors such as diabetes, or are you pregnant?

If you can answer “yes” to two or more of the above questions, it is probably time to seek medical attention.

For most people suffering with the common cold, standing in the drugstore aisle reading the labels on nonprescription cold medicine and trying to decide which one to use is a challenge. Remember, you are not alone, and your pharmacist is there to help.

Lois Lane is a Jack Russell terrier mix who we adopted from a local rescue in July of 2006. She’s a feisty little girl and one of the smartest dogs we’ve ever had. last July, when she was 4 years old, Lois Lane was diagnosed with severe canine pancreatitis. we never believed she would truly pull through, but she did. it was a very difficult process for her and for us and we hope Lois Lane’s story will help shed some light on pancreatitis symptoms so that your dog may not have to go through what Lois did. Knowing the symptoms and getting help right away will be a huge stress reliever – on yourself, your dog and your wallet.

We first noticed Lois Lane gaining weight, particularly in her belly. Lois is a very food driven dog and would snatch up dog food, cat food or any food she found at any time she could. we began watching her closely at meal times to ensure she was only eating her food in hopes of dropping her down a few pounds. we then noticed that as Lois slept she began twitching a lot and seemed to be distant towards us, which is very uncommon for her social personality. She would still come when called, however it was with the attitude that she didn’t really want to or didn’t really feel like getting up.

This behavior continued and the twitching got worse and would occur in any one of her legs anytime she would lay down – asleep or not. we suspected she may be having seizures. The initial vet trip resulted in a confirmation of seizure activity brought on by epilepsy and a round of Phenobarbital was started. The seizure like episodes continued for the next week with no indication that the medication was helping. 

Lois had gotten to the point where she was not eating much, she was aloof and lethargic and not herself at all. Her little belly was still distended and she began regurgitating what little she did eat. so back to the vet we went, this time seeing a different veterinarian who immediately ordered more blood tests and removed Lois from the Phenobarbital stating she was not having seizures and did not have epilepsy. with the blood results, the veterinarian suspected pancreas problems and asked that we leave Lois over night for observation and for intravenous fluids. when vomiting is severe, treatment begins with withholding of food, water, and oral medications for at least 24 hours. This stops the stimulation of the pancreas and keeps digestive enzymes from being produced. Fluid therapy was also done, as is common practice, to help prevent dehydration and electrolyte imbalances.

Generally after a day, or sometimes more, food and water intake resumes at a gradual pace, starting with a bland, easily digestible, high carb, low-fat food. over a period of a week or so, the meal size is increased. Some dogs must stay on this special diet for life, others can gradually get back to a normal diet, though all diets should remain low-fat. This was not the case for Lois Lane. Lois continued to get worse and by the weekend needed 24 hour observation and care. She was not eating or drinking at all and continued to vomit at regular intervals.

Because Lois was at our regular vet who only carries week day hours and no after-hour care, it was recommended that she go to the 24 hour care vet, who only take in pets upon veterinary recommendation. Lois was transported to the new facility where she received superb 24 hour care. She was there for two weeks. Her pancreatitis became so bad that her refusal to eat put her at high risk to not pull through and we were at the point of having to make a very hard decision for our beloved girl. After the first week in doggie ICU something drastic had to be done or we were going to lose her. A feeding tube was inserted via Lois’ neck and fed down into her intestines to bypass the stomach, therefore preventing the pancreas from triggering digestive enzymes. She kept the feeding tube for a week before the specialist vet felt comfortable with attempting to remove it in hopes that Lois would eat on her own again. She was still regurgitating, but only in small amounts, and we had to get her off of the tube. She had to eat again – it was her last chance.

The tube was removed and she slowly started accepting the prescription diet and water when offered to her by the vet. After she was eating on her own for a few days, much to our excitement, she was released to come home under a very strict diet of only her prescription food. as happy as she was to be back home, she once again began refusing food. After three days of us trying to coax her to eat we had to do something or she was going to starve to death. we even tried baking the food into treat nuggets, but she even turned her nose up at those. Research was done on other types of extreme low-fat food and we called the vet back with two that we found that we thought would work. The first one we tried gave the same result as the prescription food where Lois would sniff at the food and then turn around and walk away, not even trying a nibble. so we then tried a third food, and luckily the third time was a charm. She took one smell and scarfed the little test amount we had given her. From that point on she’s eaten the food and loves it. we special order it cases at a time to ensure she never runs out due to the store being out of stock.

I’m happy to say that Lois pulled through and is back to her normal, feisty self. it was close though and it was a rough road. She is on medications and diet food for life. She can’t be given any other food, especially any food high in fat. we have to take care that she can’t get into garbage cans, the cat food, or the other dog’s food. when guests are here she must be put up for fear of someone accidentally feeding her table scraps when we have cookouts. But it’s all worth it. our little girl came home and now has a second chance at life.

Oftentimes it is helpful to have a checklist for ADHD symptoms to refer to. by keeping this checklist handy you will be able to evaluate the possibility of ADHD in very concise, business like way, rather than having to go through the mental gymnastics of trying to remember the numerous symptoms of inattentive ADHD and then attempting to make a judgment.

If you are a teacher you might want to keep this 14 point checklist for ADHD in your desk. if you are using it to evaluate your child for the condition you might want to keep this checklist for ADHD in an accessible place at home. if you are an employer trying to help your employees excel you might consider keeping this list in your wallet as a reference guide when a potential ADHD situation occurs.

Defining inattention

Inattention is the inability to focus or to stay focused and is at the core of the ADHD diagnostic criteria. Taken a step further inattention is problem with self regulation; not knowing how and when to focus on something. And if you were to delve even deeper defining inattention from a biological perspective you would find that inattentive ADHD is an imbalance in brain chemicals; specifically having too much norepinephrine and too little dopamine.

14 point checklist for ADHD – Inattention

*Unable to listen carefully. Continually misinterpreting the spoken word.

*Inability to stay focused on material unless it is of great person interest.

*Tendency to daydream, drift, or wander when the subject matter is mundane or boring.

*Has trouble focusing on the fine print or important details.

*Trouble remember where things are placed. Examples might be lost homework, books, or misplaced car keys.

*Just can’t quite seem to get the knack for staying focused while reading.

*Tendency to completely ignore things that are of little interest by simply tuning them out.

*Learning new skills seems to be next to impossible, requiring a great amount of energy and willpower.

*Those with inattentive ADHD will tend to zone out during conversations that are too long or that fail to grab their interest. this could also be applied to lectures or lengthy teacher oratories.

*Hyperfocus is often encountered when the subject matter fascinates the inattentive ADHD individual, making it difficult to for them to take a break or change subject matter.

*Distractibility is a constant annoyance, with even the most minor disturbances fracturing concentration and focus. Once fractured those with ADHD have trouble re-starting and may prefer to move on to another endeavor.

*Following written or spoken direction is difficult if not impossible most of the time.

*Becoming easily distracted by one’s own thoughts while trying to concentrate.

*Being able to focus sometimes, but not others, even if the activity is of interest.

In conclusion, there are many disadvantages involved with inattentive ADHD and it is described best by one story I recently read involving a 9 year old boy who loved to put together model airplanes and trucks.

There would be days when this young boy would do things exactly right but other days he would start putting a section together and begin daydreaming, losing track of what came next and ultimately ending up gluing the wrong part into the section. this scattered thinking eventually made him give up model building even though it was something he loved.

The example above is just one of the many possible instances that highlight the difficulty for those with inattentive ADHD (all ages).